Very simple. I don't like meat. My family eat mainly Italian food, so it's easy to cut out meat. I probably could eat meat, but I haven't for about a decade, so it would be pointless to start now.

I'm a veggie because I don't like it that an animal had to die so I could eat it. But I do acknowledge (and really, anything else is denial) that eating meat is good for you. It is an excellent source of a lot of vitamins and minerals, particularly iron, which can be gotten from other sources but is best absorbed from meat.

I'd like to be a veggie for the simple reason that I hate the taste of meat, but chicken is about the only meat you will get me eating.

However, I do have to eat chicken about 3 times a week thanks to my stupid borderline anemia and therefore lack of iron.

I can't stand the taste of meat therefore I'm a vegetarian. I wish my reason for being veggie was more romantic but that's all there's to it.

i'm a veggie because I just don't think its right to kill animals to eat when I don't have too. I think its healthier to be a veggie, aslong as you do it right.

Page eats meat. She thinks its good for her and a great source of iron (which she lacks in). Page also goes hunting. Page feels that hunting is good for the envorment because every thing she shoots are pests ie rabbits, Foxs, camels, pigs. Page does wish not to offend anyone by saying that though.

Page refers to herself by name?
Fiend agrees with the points made by Page.

Josie also also agrees with Page, particularly on the conservational hunting front, which she thinks is misunderstood by alot of people - though Josie could never, ever do it personally, and is also considering becoming a vegetarian, because for a long time she has been aware that when she is tucking into a juicy, thick steak, she is eating a dead creature that USED to be a walking, feeling one.

Magda is impressed that Page is a huntress. Magda apologises for going off-topic.

Hang on - Page shoots camels?

"Camelcide"!

Yes, I believe we have feral camels in some parts of Oz. ...Is that right?

REALLY?! Oh how cool would it be to see a stray camel?! The most exciting thing you'll find around here in unpredictable england is a hedgehog, or sometimes a fox.

I'm not a fan of hunting, apart from dope hunting, but the thought of the Quorn Hunt stalking camels just made me laugh my arse off.

Page has never shot a camel her self but knows people who have.

Yes, there are quite large numbers of feral camels in some parts of Australia. I believe a few weeks ago, a TV host put her foot in it by calling the Prime Minister a "mass murderer" and comparing the culling of camels to genocide (she actually said "camelcide").

So... uh... how 'bout that vegetarianism?
*relevant*

Yes, about that vegetarianism :D
I am a vegetarian because I don't see any reason (for me) to eat animals.
I was never a big meat eater anyway, and I once had a dream where I was trying to save a pig from a french slaughterhouse, but I couldn't. (I rather let my dreams control my life slightly.)
I don't try to take the moral highground over meat eaters, I just get rather annoyed when people say they hate the way animals are treated, but don't try to make a difference. But I feel this about most subjects; If you don't like something, do something about it.

I was a vegatarian, and one of my best friends is a pescatarian (only fish) and another is vegan and we discuss the health benefits of a mostly fruit and veg diet but sometimes I crave meat....I was a veggie for two years but it was ruined by a rare steak. But once my blood sugar levels are sorted again, I'll be leading a 95% vegatarian lifestyle...with meat as a very rare treat.

I have nothing against vegetarians. In fact, I have been considering becoming one myself.

What annoyed me was my friend though: 'I'm a vegetarian'....'I'll have fish and chips please.'

'Wait, I thought you said you were a vegetarian?' 'Well yeah, but fish aren't cute and fluffy are they?'

I'd never go full vegetarian for anything other than health reasons, because I don't view killing animals for food as morally wrong. But I do understand why some people decide to for that reason among the many others. I myself have been cutting my consumption of meat down and leaning towards more vegetarian fare in my meals both for variety and a better chance at getting back to a healthier weight.

I too, hunt; mostly rabbit and whitetail deer because they are the two animals that give my state problems when they overpopulate (both attack farmer's crops with a vegeance as winter gets closer, and the deer actually carry several unsavory diseases that humans can apparently catch). Plus the deer cause our motorists lots of problems during their mating season, when they'll bolt across roads with no regard for the cars ten feet from them moving too fast to stop.

I am against killing anything for the sport of it though, and I'm glad to say every hunter I know well or have a mere aquantance with views the kill as sacred. This pretty much means every part of the animals gets used by them, or given/sold to someone who will get use out of it. To waste anything usable can get you on a lot of hunters' shit lists.

I've been vegan for 2 years, mainly because I don't think it's right to use animals and as a secondary bonus factor, it's environmentally friendly.
None of my family are vegetarian.

I like to think it's healthier to not eat meat, but really, anything in moderation. It's hard to have a balanced vegan diet unless you care about it.

I was vegetarian for 9 years, from age 9 to 18. I took the decision to cut meat out of my diet at 9 because of a substitute teacher we had for a fortnight. This teacher in particular was a real refugee from the love generation and decided that we needed to learn where the meat in our Happy Meals came from, and so we watched this gruesome video which I highly doubt was certified by any school board anywhere on the planet. I guess parents dont really know what to make of their 9 year old coming home and denouncing meat but they got the point after awhile when I promptly ignored any meat put on my plate and so began my long love affair with Quorn.

Cutting a long story short; I developed a nasty case of anaemia, all the iron tablets in the world didnt seem to help. My immune system seemed to take regular holidays, normally when I needed it the most. I wont ramble on but despite having a healthy vegetarian diet it really wasnt good. Also, Im not blaming being a vegetarian for depression, but I doubt it helped, what with being tired and run down all the time.

Then I done a catering course at 18, by this point my doctor was persistently recommending that I change my diet and you cant really learn to cook if you cant taste what youre cooking. I know one chef who is a veggie and cooks the most amazing meat but shes a freak of nature anyway.

And so I cracked. Though meat and I still have issues.

I'm Vegan as the meat and dairy industry contributes to most of the world's carbon emissions.Also, we don't need dairy products in our diets, look at all the other animals they don't have milk after they've been born...so why do we still need it?

I actually like the taste of milk. Full fat, none of this skimmed stuff! My parents worked out that I consumed an average of 14 pints, dunno what that is in litres, a week when living at home and I doubt it's dropped significantly since moving out. Not including the 2 and a half glasses in every bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk I would eat! I have no health problems and I like to think that I have lovely strong bones and teeth because of all the calcium

I agree with hunting for pest control - I've never been hunting but I would like to go and get rabbits or something with my friend who hunts. I think rabbit is yummy!

I'm quite happy to accomodate vegetarian requests for dinner so long as they understand that I will, in all probability, be eating meat but I do make sure not to cross-contaminate anything.

Since we have the incisor teeth of carnivores and molars of herbivores I am happy to eat both meat and veg

I'm very lucky - I don't like dairy a lot, as it tends to make me feel ill. However, I've never had any nutritional problems. Combined with my vegetarianism, it seems like a miracle.

Anyone a supporter of PETA? I would be interested to hear if they brainwashed anyone into vegetarianism, because I think their adverts are appalling. It makes me quick to say 'I'm a vegetarian. Nothing to do with PETA' when I meet someone who takes an interest in my diet.

Yes, I'm a member of PETA2 which is more based around young adults and I campaign with them for better conditions for animals. I'm currently doing a campaign to stop the royal family killing bears for the bear skin hats.
x

The hats are still made from bear skins? Bloody hell...